Orillia Packet and Times Closed

The Examiner was founded in 1864. Under the deal, Northumberland Today is closed and the Peterborough Examiner will be operated by Metroland Media, which already operates Peterborough This Week.

It is unclear at this time how Metroland Media's operation of both the Peterborough Examiner and Peterborough This Week will affect either newspaper.

Metroland Media will continue to operate the daily newspapers in St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Welland and Peterborough.

Torstar Corp. and Postmedia Network Inc. announced Monday that they were trading dozens of newspapers, primarily in Ontario, and planned to close most of the affected titles.

"This transaction will allow us to operate more efficiently through increased geographic synergies in a number of our primary regions", said John Boynton, President and CEO of Torstar Corporation in a statement. Each of them has a relatively small circulation base.

Eight community newspapers are being mothballed including the Bradford Times, the Collingwood Enterprise Bulletin and the Innisfil Examiner. All of the publications were bought as part of the transaction between Torstar and Postmedia. The employees will receive severance packages.

Metroland, citing falling advertising revenues, will also shutter three daily and eight community publications.

Metroland Media remains committed to providing local residents with community news and information through its existing publications in the affected communities, including the Barrie Advance, Orillia Today and Northumberland News.

In total, the two organizations plan to close 36 of the 41 papers involved in the deal - mainly in areas where Postmedia and Torstar had been running newspapers in competition with each other.

Metro Winnipeg is closing its doors after two Canadian media giants swapped ownership of more than 40 community newspapers, including the Manitoba paper.